1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to pickup truck bed-mounted accessories, and in particular to a tailgate trimpiece for retaining a tailgate in its closed position with a bed-mounted tonneau cover in a closed position thereof over a portion of the trimpiece.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Pickup truck sales account for a relatively large part of the market for new passenger vehicles. Buyers tend to be attracted by their utilitarian advantages, such as cargo capacity and ruggedness. Contemporary pickup trucks, however, also tend to incorporate other features for comfort and style. Thus, successful pickup truck models incorporate features traditionally found in passenger vehicles with fundamental, pickup truck utilitarian design criteria. As a result of this multi-purpose vehicle design and marketing strategy, pickup trucks as a vehicle class have managed to capture a relatively large share of the market with a relatively broad customer base drawn from various segments of the vehicle-buying consumer population. Although many pickup trucks are still purchased primarily for their cargo-carrying capabilities, comfort and style are also important.
The popularity of pickup trucks among vehicle buyers has created a large aftermarket for pickup truck accessories. Among the relatively popular aftermarket accessories are various bed caps, shells, enclosures and covers. For example, tonneau covers are relatively flat and are generally mounted at the proximate level of the top of the bed. Flexible tonneau covers are constructed of suitable materials such as canvas, plastic, etc. A flexible tonneau cover for a pickup truck bed is shown in the Swanson U.S. Pat. No. 4,923,240.
Rigid tonneau covers are also available and can be fabricated from fiber reinforced plastic ("FRP") and other suitable materials. Rigid tonneau covers are often preferred for aesthetic purposes since they tend to have relatively clean lines and can receive a finish gel coat to match or coordinate with a vehicle finish. Rigid tonneau covers can be hingedly mounted on the vehicle beds whereby they lift open from the back. Access to the pickup truck bed interior can thus be provided by raising the tonneau cover back and/or opening the vehicle tailgate.
Security for the contents of the vehicle bed is an important design criteria for rigid tonneau covers. Hence, tonneau covers are often equipped with latches and locks for securing them in closed positions on pickup truck beds. For example, a commercially available type of tonneau cover uses rails mounted on the upper side edges of the pickup truck bed and slam locks on both sides of the tonneau cover for releasably engaging the side mounting rails. The present invention addresses the objective of securing the contents of the bed of a pickup truck which is equipped with a tonneau cover by interconnecting the tonneau cover in its closed position with a closed tailgate. Heretofore, there has not been available a pickup truck tailgate trimpiece with the advantages and features of the present invention.